Netiquette (or discussion forum etiquette)

[superdimitri]

Saw this image which I thought may help others understand general etiquette on a discussion forum.

Frankly the forum is currently a mess, cross thread discussion on the same subjects. A million threads to describe one subject (or player) and a general lack of empathy, politeness or even hatred towards other users.

I'm not sure why it's become this way, but wondered perhaps it could be because some of our user base aren't familiar with discussions online?

The forum has a great spine with some very interesting users and discussions, only to be let down by poor manners, bullying or insults towards others.

There's lots of people who enjoy reading posts, but also too many who are quick to post themselves without searching/reading other people's contributions, leading to copy after copy of the same points being made again and again.

To a new visitor I can only foresee this being off-putting, if not embarrassing.

The place must be an absolute nightmare to moderate and a lot of it can be avoided simply by treating others how you'd like to be treated yourself, searching first and making sure what you want to post isn't answered or mentioned already. If you find someone hasn't already raised the same point, be sure to prioritise replying to an existing thread of the same topic (or player) before creating a new one.

Keeping things this way makes it a lot easier to share discussion, to search in the future and to enjoy everyone's contributions.

Anyway, hopefully those who are unfamiliar with posting on a discussion forum may find this helpful:


If someone needs any help regarding this, I'm happy to help. I moderate on another forum so have a little bit of experience of how things tick over.

Perhaps we together can make the forum less toxic, clearer and a more enjoyable place?

[ClaretAndJew]

Dimitri there was a post earlier that said Dyche wouldn't buy a player cause he was black. That's the kind of mindset we're dealing with on here. Good luck.

[Bullabill]

But we all know Sean isn't black.

[tiger76]

Saw this image which I thought may help others understand general etiquette on a discussion forum.

Frankly the forum is currently a mess, cross thread discussion on the same subjects. A million threads to describe one subject (or player) and a general lack of empathy, politeness or even hatred towards other users.

I'm not sure why it's become this way, but wondered perhaps it could be because some of our user base aren't familiar with discussions online?

The forum has a great spine with some very interesting users and discussions, only to be let down by poor manners, bullying or insults towards others.

There's lots of people who enjoy reading posts, but also too many who are quick to post themselves without searching/reading other people's contributions, leading to copy after copy of the same points being made again and again.

To a new visitor I can only foresee this being off-putting, if not embarrassing.

The place must be an absolute nightmare to moderate and a lot of it can be avoided simply by treating others how you'd like to be treated yourself, searching first and making sure what you want to post isn't answered or mentioned already. If you find someone hasn't already raised the same point, be sure to prioritise replying to an existing thread of the same topic (or player) before creating a new one.

Keeping things this way makes it a lot easier to share discussion, to search in the future and to enjoy everyone's contributions.

Anyway, hopefully those who are unfamiliar with posting on a discussion forum may find this helpful:


If someone needs any help regarding this, I'm happy to help. I moderate on another forum so have a little bit of experience of how things tick over.

Perhaps we together can make the forum less toxic, clearer and a more enjoyable place?

Can't disagree with most of what you type superdimitri, if I could suggest a few minor points of my own.

1) Clear thread titles- this would greatly help people who have limited time, and just want to either post a new thread, or quickly scan through a particular topic.

2) This is a more general point, just for everybody to try and make this forum fun again as it used to be, after all there is enough doom and gloom as it is right now, this message board should be an escape from the mundane life ATM.

3) Just remember that many people will be stressed these days, and also mental health can be fragile, so above all be kind to other posters.

[SammyBoy]

I’ve been posting on this forum in its various forms since 2004 and from my perspective the main difference between then and now is the increase in politics/general culture war chat. Posters disagree, make an enemy of one another and their disputes and sniping spill over onto random threads. Not that it’s a problem limited to this board however, I think the current state of UTC just reflects how society has gotten broadly more politicised since the 00’s, back then I’m sure there were loads of people knocking about who’d almost proudly declare they didn’t give a toss about politics, now everyone’s an expert and got strong views one way or the other.

[conyoviejo]

I’ve been posting on this forum in its various forms since 2004 and from my perspective the main difference between then and now is the increase in politics/general culture war chat. Posters disagree, make an enemy of one another and their disputes and sniping spill over onto random threads. Not that it’s a problem limited to this board however, I think the current state of UTC just reflects how society has gotten broadly more politicised since the 00’s, back then I’m sure there were loads of people knocking about who’d almost proudly declare they didn’t give a toss about politics, now everyone’s an expert and got strong views one way or the other.

There was a vote a few months ago about keeping all the political threads on different new board ,but somehow it was defeated.Maybe there should be another call for a vote Again.

Or maybe have a separate board for all things to do with BFC ..

[CrosspoolClarets]

Can’t say I notice from 1-2 visits a day a difference in the football, non-football and crossover threads. Still a variety of personalities, from the wise to the daft, from the sarky to the polite, from the nasty to the friendly.

The trouble with trying to sanitise social media is its asking people to put aside their normal personalities, and it can disenfranchise those whose face doesn’t fit with the rules. A bit like having a stringent dress code for a restaurant, some will feel they aren’t invited, the trouble is, if they are let in, the rest of the diners may not enjoy it as much, so its a no win situation.

That’s social media - it purports to be open to all, breaking down boundaries, but increasingly we say we want to regulate it because its a fake news, aggressive, intolerant free for all.

Good luck

[Bosscat]

Is Netiquette a cross over of Croquet and Lacrosse

220px-Modern_croquet_equipment.jpeg (6.71 KiB) Viewed 4461 times

images.jpeg (6.3 KiB) Viewed 4461 times

[dougcollins]

Search before you write - sometimes you simply don't have time. Too much castigating on here of people who are accused of not searching thoroughly enough.

I rarely spend the whole evening on the board, an hour tops is enough for me.

[SammyBoy]

There was a vote a few months ago about keeping all the political threads on different new board ,but somehow it was defeated.Maybe there should be another call for a vote Again.

Or maybe have a separate board for all things to do with BFC ..

Yeah I remember that, I seem to recall there was a majority in favour of a change but there were three options so the vote to change was split, and the status quo got the most votes.

Don’t get me wrong back in the day there used to be tons of random non-footy topics, it just didn’t seem to be the constant heavy political back and forth point scoring we have now.

[tiger76]

Search before you write - sometimes you simply don't have time. Too much castigating on here of people who are accused of not searching thoroughly enough.

I rarely spend the whole evening on the board, an hour tops is enough for me.

That's why clear thread titles would be helpful, I don't always have the time to bother searching, but if you could see at a glance which topics were already being debated it would make life much easier.

[Rileybobs]

I don’t see much wrong with the formatting or general content of this message board. And whilst I appreciate the sentiment in the OP (see what I did there), I find the graphic to be patronising. It’s a forum to discuss football, general courtesy should suffice.

[tiger76]

I don’t see much wrong with the formatting or general content of this message board. And whilst I appreciate the sentiment in the OP (see what I did there), I find the graphic to be patronising. It’s a forum to discuss football, general courtesy should suffice.

No I'd agree the format is fine for me anyway, and most of the board is generally OK regarding content, I can see why some folks can be put off by the political threads, and I personally dip in and out of those depending on my mood and the news of the day, I see no issue with the board being open to a wide variety of topics, this is one of the reasons it's so interesting, and if it was confined to solely footy chat that could soon become tedious even for the most diehard Clarets,

I wholeheartedly agree that common courtesy should be a given, by all means debate a whole manner of topics, and disagree if you wish, but do so in a polite way, surely that isn't too much to expect.

[UnderSeige]

I have just edited a post that I made after reading this.

[superdimitri]

Can't disagree with most of what you type superdimitri, if I could suggest a few minor points of my own.

1) Clear thread titles- this would greatly help people who have limited time, and just want to either post a new thread, or quickly scan through a particular topic.

2) This is a more general point, just for everybody to try and make this forum fun again as it used to be, after all there is enough doom and gloom as it is right now, this message board should be an escape from the mundane life ATM.

3) Just remember that many people will be stressed these days, and also mental health can be fragile, so above all be kind to other posters.

I agree, point 3 particularly plays a big part. I've personally been effected by that myself, and I've seen others have too (including Tony who runs the site). Its easy to hide behind a keyboard and have no retrospective action, but there are people on the other end of our messages, and you never quite know the difficulties they may be having.

Search before you write - sometimes you simply don't have time. Too much castigating on here of people who are accused of not searching thoroughly enough.

I rarely spend the whole evening on the board, an hour tops is enough for me.

Searching doesn't take long at all. There's a search box always available at the top right of each page on the forum. I know some people don't spend a lot of time on here, but creating duplicates just makes the next person more confused and more lost when they are thinking to post in a similar way themselves. The result is a train of people with the same thought.
Duplicates can never be eradicated completely which is part of the reason forum moderation is a thing, but its gotten to the point here where its frankly ridiculous...with numerous threads about the same player (just an example). There's no castigating at all, its just clear to me that some people (not everyone) doesn't understand the basic ins and outs of using a messageboard. Perhaps because we have quite an older audience compared to other message boards? I don't know.

This is a discussion forum, its not the same format as social media where the focus is on posting, rather than reading. It should be give and take, and isn't really a platform suited for quick replies.

I don’t see much wrong with the formatting or general content of this message board. And whilst I appreciate the sentiment in the OP (see what I did there), I find the graphic to be patronising. It’s a forum to discuss football, general courtesy should suffice.

I've voiced my opinion of the formatting before when we had the poll some time ago. If it were me, I'd have football threads in one place, political in another. Or just ban politics completely due to the toxicity it creates.
It would be also useful to follow a similar trend other footie boards follow, with player threads etc.

But I'm sorry if the graphic seemed patronising. I'm sure to someone who is already familiar with the ins and outs it would be, but the only reason I thought I'd make the post and include the graphic is to help those who aren't familiar with it...and it seems there are quite a few on this board.

If people can think about the bigger picture I think the forum can become a better place, and by doing so it should attract better people. What I don't want to see happen is it to go down the wrong road, and for it to turn in to an unmanageable mess.

[wilks_bfc]

Although I can see the argument for having a separate board for “non-football” topics, a lot of posts would be lost.

Most of my (and I bet most others) visits to the board are “pop-one” when I have a quick 5-10mins to see what’s going on.
I check any further posts on topics I’ve read/commented on and have a scan of any new ones that I want to read.
I wouldn’t then repeat the process for the non board.

And remember the non-football topics are all political, with people asking for advice/recommendations, which is where the clear titles come in and not the “click-bait” thst has become popular

In many ways, and it has been said before, we are a virtual pub (maybe closing it at 10pm would help )

[GodIsADeeJay81]

If politics were banned then during the Covid lockdown with no footy on this place would've died a death.

Politics is all we've had for a large chunk of the year that's been worth discussing, just there are nasty types on both sides which doesn't help.

I myself am guilty of calling people on here stupid etc, but sometimes that's the only way to get through to someone.

[Rileybobs]

I agree, point 3 particularly plays a big part. I've personally been effected by that myself, and I've seen others have too (including Tony who runs the site). Its easy to hide behind a keyboard and have no retrospective action, but there are people on the other end of our messages, and you never quite know the difficulties they may be having.


Searching doesn't take long at all. There's a search box always available at the top right of each page on the forum. I know some people don't spend a lot of time on here, but creating duplicates just makes the next person more confused and more lost when they are thinking to post in a similar way themselves. The result is a train of people with the same thought.
Duplicates can never be eradicated completely which is part of the reason forum moderation is a thing, but its gotten to the point here where its frankly ridiculous...with numerous threads about the same player (just an example). There's no castigating at all, its just clear to me that some people (not everyone) doesn't understand the basic ins and outs of using a messageboard. Perhaps because we have quite an older audience compared to other message boards? I don't know.

This is a discussion forum, its not the same format as social media where the focus is on posting, rather than reading. It should be give and take, and isn't really a platform suited for quick replies.


I've voiced my opinion of the formatting before when we had the poll some time ago. If it were me, I'd have football threads in one place, political in another. Or just ban politics completely due to the toxicity it creates.
It would be also useful to follow a similar trend other footie boards follow, with player threads etc.

But I'm sorry if the graphic seemed patronising. I'm sure to someone who is already familiar with the ins and outs it would be, but the only reason I thought I'd make the post and include the graphic is to help those who aren't familiar with it...and it seems there are quite a few on this board.

If people can think about the bigger picture I think the forum can become a better place, and by doing so it should attract better people. What I don't want to see happen is it to go down the wrong road, and for it to turn in to an unmanageable mess.

I personally love the fact that if something important is happening in the world then it’s being discussed on here. It’s a one stop shop. Politics threads are easy to ignore and don’t in any way detract from the football threads if you don’t read them. It would be a very quiet site at certain points during a year if it wasn’t for non-football threads.

I agree about the duplicate threads though, but once an item has dropped off the front page I can see why it happens.

[DCWat]

If politics were banned then during the Covid lockdown with no footy on this place would've died a death.

Politics is all we've had for a large chunk of the year that's been worth discussing, just there are nasty types on both sides which doesn't help.

I myself am guilty of calling people on here stupid etc, but sometimes that's the only way to get through to someone.

Barring the calling people stupid bit, I agree. There are always people with different views, less informed views or indeed, much more well informed views.

If we could all accept that and debate politely, we might all enjoy the site a lot more and indeed learn a few things along the way.

[AfloatinClaret]

...to discuss football, general courtesy should suffice.

I'd agree with that and this, indeed all forums, seem to manage far more general courtesy than was shown in the pre-internet days of the 1970/80s when football got 'discussed' on the terraces and surrounding streets on a Saturday afternoon.

[andyh]

Thread necromancy seems to be encouraged here but on most boards either banned or at least frowned on. Bringing back long dead threads usually for a “told you so” which is unhelpful at best. Also I can’t be the only one to read year old comments on a subject thinking they are current.